AskPlot Winter Wonderland

“Listen up, because this is the one and only time I’m going to say it.”

The supposed right hand (one of many) to the Alliance Commander flickered upon the dashboard of whatever means of transport the pair of rebels chose to take, provided they could reach the faraway world in one piece. Traveling through the southern reaches of the galaxy, independent from the iron grip of the Imperial Republica, was not exactly safe. Smugglers moved freely to and fro, patrols of marauders roamed planet to planet, pirates lingered in asteroid fields or behind harmless moons waiting for an unsuspecting ship or merchant convoy to sail by. It was dangerous, but it also gave the Alliance an opportunity. A disguise.

“You will be posing as a small band of pirates looking for some credits to plunder. Your destination is Hoth—” Her holographic figure shimmered into a map, focused solely on the Anoat sector and then the snowy, barren world. “—where you have heard of a derelict outpost of raiders in the mountains who are chock-full of credits. While in truth they possess little, they are a serious threat to disrupting our operations in the territory. You must eliminate them to ensure the rest of our plan goes smoothly. Remember, you are not to leave a trace of your true identity. You are only a passing shadow. Like this recording.”

She smiled and saluted the two chosen individuals. “Godspeed, rebels.” With the mission explained and their approach to Hoth closer than ever, the encrypted transmission vanished, forever lost. The Empire was not involved but Leah, or the Galactic Alliance, could never be too safe.

"So, what should my pirate name be? Captain Fest? Admiral Blaster? Ooh what about The Dread Pirate Rose?" The rebel joked. She was excited to get on with the operation, although her nerves were still on edge. She held her blaster as she sat in the seat of the transport they were on. She checked her blaster rifle, made sure the blaster packs were charged, secured her pistol in its holster and her vibroblade in its sheathe. However this time, Evelyn had brought two frag grenades and two smoke grenades. Although the smoke grenades were alright with her, Having the explosives on her made her feel nervous, way more nervous than usual in a battle but she had a feeling that they would come in handy during this excapade.

She looked up at her partner. She was naturally nervous and hadn't asked much about them other than their name. Hopefully thought she could get over the anxiety over time and learn to properly interact with her fellow rebels. Her work in Tatooine helped her to ease up on that anxiety. She'd managed to survive and obviously demonstrated some sort of skill otherwise she wouldn't have been chosen for the mission. It gave Evelyn a good feeling to know she'd been noticed, despite her misgivings about the Alliance.

Fynn flicked a few switches as the hologram fizzled out at the end of the transmission. Seemed simple enough, get in, wipe out the raiders, get out. All without leaving behind any trail that could be traced back to them. It wasn't the first time he had done something like this, but in the past he had always had the might of the Imperial Navy behind him. Not this time. This time it was just him, his wits, and one ally. They were going to have to be smart with this one.

He had done two man jobs before, but his second had always been Anni, but she was off running some job of her own, so he was working with someone he had never worked before. That seemed to be a common theme for his experiences since joining the rebellion, working with unknown quantities, trusting them enough to put his life in their hands. Well, he had left the Navy because he had come to hate the man he had been, so if he was serious about making a better man of himself then this was something he was going to have to learn.

Still, even if he trusted in his companion, it didn't hurt to come prepared. So alongside his standard pistols, he had brought along two smoke and two frag grenades, and a bulky old blaster rifle to help even the odds. He hoped he wouldn't have to use them, but better to be over prepared than under.

He turned to the woman seated in the co-pilot's chair as the console in front of him beeped to indicate his imminent exit from hyperspace. "Pirate name? They don't really do that you know. I once arrested.." He stopped for a moment as he realized what he was saying, "I once knew a pirate named Bob. Bob the pirate. Pick any name you want really." He was more intent on processing the information the redhead had shared, trying to figure out how best to tackle this problem. With arrival imminent, they only had the time it would take him to fly the ship planet-side to figure something out. Good thing he did his best work when under pressure, not even talking about how good he was in life threatening situations.

"So how do you wanna do this once we're inside? Get chummy with them, figure out when most are asleep and take them out then? Will probably easiest when there are few guards about."

Evelyn nodded and said, "That makes sense to me. Look, i'm going to be honest with you, i'm still pretty wet behind the ears. I'm fine with you being the brains of this operation. You make a decision, I follow it."

She knew that she didn't have the first clue on how to actually plan or run an operation. Really all she'd done lately was just be a gun for other people while they called the shots and she was fine with that. People who do the talking and the planning tend to get shot and that's not what she was here for. Getting shot was other people jobs.

As the ship exited hyperspace Evelyn got up and slung her rifle onto her back. For one last time she double checked her pistol, her vibro blade, and her belt of grenades. "So what's our story? We looking to sign up? I'm your bruiser friend who rarely talks?"

Fynn didn't much care that she was green, but he was glad that she had been upfront about it. He had seen too many missions ruined by rookie bravado and a refusal to ask for help when the situation called for it. She had earned herself a measure of respect from him because of that. "Sure kid," falling into the old squad sergeant role, though they were probably of an age, "I've got your back."

He fell silent for a moment as he thought things over, trying to come up with a believable cover story while he took the ship in towards the the outpost's hangar. "Yeah, let's go with that. They need to expand to increase profits, we're here to offer our services." As the ship settled down, he checked his gear once more before the two of them began moving towards the ship's cargo hold, where the ramp was now descending to let them out. A couple of pirates were there to greet them, big old beat em up types, and escort them to the leader of the pirates.

The leader turned out to be a hulking mohawked fellow, with teeth filed to points and his face covered with tattoos and scars. "I am Taserface," he began almost the moment they were inside, not wasting any time, "You have your buy-in?" Fynn fought an urge to not laugh out loud at his name and instead focused on the question. Taserface cutting straight to the chase had caught him off guard, no one had told him anything about a buy-in and he wasn't really sure he had enough money for that. So he did the only thing he could, he spun a tale.

"Ahh, yes, about that." He glanced back at the two pirates who had escorted them to Taserface and were still standing there, being all menacing and probably ready to toss them out if their boss told them to, "We don't really have money, but we do have a ship. Till we earn enough to buy our place in your esteemed company, the ship is yours." With that he pulled out a small holodisk and brought up a small hologram of his ship.

Taserface stepped up and leaned forward to get a better look at the small hologram and after a few tense moment finally straightened up with a wide grin on his face that turned into rolling laughter as he pulled Fynn into a bear hug. "That is good, that is good. Taserface likes a big fleet. Welcome to the Scary Pirates!"

Yet again Fynn found himself fighting the urge to burst out laughing, Scary Pirates, lead by Taserface? He wondered if that redhead had sent them here as a prank? Still, things were going alright so far. So he leaned towards Evelyn to whisper in her ear as they were lead to the common area for a drink and introductions to the remaining pirates. "Try to take count of how many men this fool has, and try not to get drunk." With that they were ushered into the dining area, and the drinking began.

Evelyn stayed quiet, not quite trusting herself to be able to talk her way out of any potential situations. So she kept the gruff and tough silent killer facade up, resting her hand on her pistol. When they entered the common area, Evelyn was offered a drink which she took without comment. She gazed around the common room, mentally counting out how many there were. She counted but paused as a pirate staggered up to her.

It was a Devaronian with both his horns sawed down. He had a glazed look in his eye, sharing the same look with the rest of his friends. He looked Evelyn up and down, making no attempt to hide his lecherous looks, and said, "What's a place like you doing in a girl like this?"

Although inwards she was freaking out by the forced confrontation, she slowly turned away from the common room and faced the Devaronian. She took a beat to look the alien up and down. She looked unimpressed and let it show as she said, "Not you."

Evelyn shoved past the alien, who stumbled back from her, somewhat in shock at the rejection. A few laughs in the back made him realize a few friends witnessed the rejection, so he sulked to a corner to live down the shame. Evelyn meanwhile came up to her ally and said conversationally, "Good idea signing us up with these guys boss-man. A dozen pirates don't usually last this long."

Fynn just smirked as Evelyn dealt with the Devaronian, while someone handed a mug of something alcoholic into his arms. Glancing around to see how many pirates he could spot, it seemed like a majority of the pirates were here at the moment, as good as time as any to begin. A dozen wasn't too bad, if things went their way they just might get done with this real fast.

"A drink for my Devaronian friend." He shouted towards the bar to catch the attention of most of the pirates, before continuing when most eyes were on him. "You know what, screw that. Drinks for everyone, on me!" That sent a cheer up, and within minutes half a dozen of the pirates had settled down to get drunk on his credits. A good start, a really good start. But he wanted more. So he walked up to the bar, navigating through a sea of pirates on their way to getting drunk, and picked up two more drinks, finding the more expensive stuff. He wandered towards two of the pirates who weren't really getting into the spirit of his and Evelyn's attempts to get them drunk and shoved the drinks into their hands.

"For you two, my special friends, a special drink." Noticing the expensive wine in the mugs he held, the two readily downed their existing drinks and took the ones he offered. Fynn walked away a little while later, two down, three to go.

As the pirates were getting drunk all around them, Fynn wandered towards Evelyn and began whispering discretely. "Give it another half hour and this bunch should be out cold. Leaving just those three." He gestured towards the three pirates he hadn't been able to get into the spirit of things, they seemed mostly within control of their senses and stone cold sober.

"Do you wanna try and get them drunk or just take our chances and shoot them up. A room full of drunks and only three capable fightrs are pretty decent odds. We just need to wait for a bit till the others pass out."

Evelyn glanced at the three and said, "Let's give it a little bit and wait for the others to pass out."

Not even twenty minutes later the room was full of passed out or proceeding to pass out drunkards. Men were leaning on the bar, slumped against the wall, or just sprawled on the ground. It was obvious that the pirates were used to this sort of thing and found it safe enough to just pass out wherever they were.

The other three however didn't do much drinking but laughed at their companions who were passed out. A rodian said derisively in Huttese, although Evelyn didn't understand it, "Dumbasses can't even hold their drink. I'm surprised we've lasted this long without any trouble."

Evelyn stayed nearby Fynn the while, waiting on him to make the next move. As soon as he sprung into action she'd be ready with her own weapon.

Fynn nodded in response to Evelyn's suggestion, it was a good call. It wasn't like the fools were gonna run away if they waited a little longer. He did keep an eye on the three who were still in control of their senses, they were all that mattered now. Taking a few tiny sips from his drink to make it seem like he was drinking as well, he made his way over to one of the sober ones and began making idle chit-chat. Ultimately though, the conversation started dragging and the fellow even suggested waking up some of the passed out ones so that they could get back to work, and Fynn knew time was up.

"Now!" He shouted for Evelyn's benefit and slammed his own mug onto the head of the pirate he was talking with, the man was shocked for a moment, only reacting when blood started trickling down his face. He almost pulled out his blaster, but Fynn was able to swat it away as the fellow finally crumbled to the floor. Whipping his blaster out, he turned to attack the other two. He attacked the one closest to Evelyn first, but the shot barely grazed the fellow's arm and thought injured he wasn't really out. The third guy wasn't so lucky, as Fynn's shot hit him square in the face, killing him before his body even his the floor.

But the one near Evelyn was still standing. "Get him!" He shouted, hoping to draw the fellow's eyes and give Evelyn an opportunity to get the jump on him, while he himself fired off a shot at the first guy he had hit with the mug to make sure he was out as well.

Evelyn allowed herself to be distracted momentarily before the fight, spreading her attention too far and looking for anything out of the ordinary. So when Fynn called out the attack, Evelyn was slow to react. The one closest to her was already reacting faster than her and had began to level his blaster when Fynn had shot at his arm.

The pirate dropped his own blaster, letting it clatter to the floor as he reflexively dropped it. Evelyn finally came to her senses and hastily drew her vibroblade. However the pirate wasn't out yet. He drew a knife of his own and charged for Evelyn. The girl stepped to the side and was about to stab down onto his neck when she felt something hit her in the side, hard.

She only had time to think, Did he just punch me?before glancing down and seeing the knife, hilt deep, stabbed into her side. She frowned and saw the man about to pull it out. She didn't feel any pain yet, or even fear so far just a single thought. Don't let him take it out.

In a heartbeat, Evelyn sliced her vibroknife across the pirates forearm. With most weapons it would have really just been akin to a papercut, but the vibrations of the knife cut a clean gash into the pirates arm, causing him to let go. Evelyn turned her shoulder toward the man and slammed into him, shoving him away, before feeling her knees go weak.

Evelyn fell against a table, tipping it over and leaning up against it, hands at the wound in her side. A tingling sensation was felt in her side, of thousands of nerves realizing they've been severed and quite unsure how to react. She gritted her teeth and let out a shuttering breath, hoping that Fynn could handle this one.

Fynn saw Evelyn clashing with the pirate, and by the time she hit the table he had dealt with the one he was double tapping. He had lost people under his command in the past, and he was not in the mood to experience that again. It was a shitty situation all around. Bad for the ones who died because, well because they died, bad for him because the guilt would eat away at him. So he ignored everything else and raised his blaster towards the pirate clashing with Evelyn. Taking his time, maintaining his calm despite the situation, he took aim and fired, just once. The shot flew straight and true, hitting the pirate in the exposed skin on the back of his neck and he toppled lifeless to the floor.

"Let's go!" He shouted, not giving Evelyn any time, they had to deal with the drunks before any more trouble arrived. Pulling out his second blaster, he flipped it to stun at the last moment and began shooting, putting a couple of shots into everyone to make sure they stayed passed out for long enough for the two rebels to deal with everyone on the base and come back and safely tie them up.

Once they were done with that, he would gesture for Evelyn to follow, it was time they went and faced Taserface. "You wanna take lead on dealing with the mighty Taserface? I don't know how well I can aim while trying not to laugh." It was not his best work, but hopefully the humor would help Evelyn deal with the injury and near death encounter. They weren't quiet done here just yet, and needed to be sharp to face old Taserface.

Evelyn nodded and started to get up, but stumbled forward, crashing back to the floor. The knife was knocked out of the wound, cutting her up again and providing an avenue for the blood to start spilling out. As she hit the floor she groaned out a pained, "Argh, ****!"

She was panting hard, a little panicked now, as she stood back up and started to walk forward. He hand was pressed hard against her wound to stop the bleeding although she looked a little pale. She looked over to Fynn and said, "Lets just hurry this shit up and get me some kolto."

As if on cue, the doors slid open to show Taser face stepping through, blaster rifle in hand. He looked around at the carnage and shook his head, "Damn fools. Couldn't even take down two intruders. Fine, I guess i'll have to do their job for them."

Evelyn frowned as she stared at Taserface. Something inside her clicked, and even Fynn would be able to tell that something was about to happen. Taserface just had enough time to level his blaster rifle before Evelyn extended a hand in reflex. A blaster from one of the downed pirates flew from across the room, into her waiting hand. She frowned even harder, but quickly took the opportunity to pump three shots into the pirate.

Her aim was true despite her wound, and all three bolts hit the pirate in the chest. He fell backwards, three new scorch marks sizzling in the now dead pirate. Evelyn looked at the blaster pistol in her hand and only managed to mutter, "Huh, thats new." before she fell to the floor again.

Noticing the strain Evelyn seemed to be under, Fynn considered telling her to drop back and rest when the door to the pirate captain's chambers swung open, revealing Taserface standing beyond them. Fynn was about to fire at Taserface, who had his own weapon ready, when something unexpected happened. A blaster flew into Evelyn's arms, shocking both Fynn and Taserface, and buying Evelyn the opening she needed to promptly finish him off.

"Huh!" Was all that escaped Fynn's lips as he just stood there, still processing what had just happened. He had seen things like this before, having spent a great deal of time around Sith. Who was this girl? But he had to push those thoughts away as Evelyn suddenly collapsed, her earlier injury finally taking its toll.

Fynn ran towards her, pulling out some supplies from his pockets, including a small kolto patch. He did what he could to try and stabilize her, but what she really needed was proper medical treatment. So he picked her up and sat her up against a wall, slipping a blaster into her hands. "Nicely done kid, now just hang back and rest. I'll go clear things up so that we can get out of here and get you some proper treatment."

Over the course of the next half hour or so Fynn would methodically deal with all the knocked out pirates, tying them up and securing the base as best as he could. Only then would he route a message through his ship to rebel leadership. "We're done here, but I have an injured rebel here. Requesting medical aid and extraction. The base is ready for occupation."

With that he would head back towards Evelyn, with a few more kolto patches and some medicine that he had found in the base. Maybe once she was all patched up he would ask her about that blaster.